Texas Pro-Life Group Endorses Republican Governor Rick Perry for Re-Election
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 1, 2009
Austin, TX (LifeNews.com) — A Texas pro-life group has weighed into what will likely be a combative primary election contest in Texas as Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison takes on sitting Gov. Rick Perry. The Texas Alliance for Life political action committee is urging Texans to get behind Perry, saying his pro-life record and views are superior.
"We enthusiastically endorse Governor Perry in his bid for re-election," TAL director Joe Pojman told LifeNews.com late Monday.
"He is a loyal advocate for the protection of unborn babies and their mothers, and TAL is eager for him to continue his dedicated and effective leadership of our state,’ Pojman said.
The pro-life group points out that Perry has consistently and passionately supported laws protecting unborn babies and their mothers.
Perry supported or signed into law the Women’s Right to Know Act and the Prenatal Protection Act in 2003, parental consent law in 2005, and funding for alternatives to abortions in 2007 and 2009.
"Texas needs a leader who is unrelentingly pro-life," Pojman said. "Unlike his opponent, Governor Perry has never given an inch to the life-threatening precepts of Roe v. Wade, whether verbally or by his actions as an elected official."
When it comes to Hutchison, she mostly votes pro-life on abortion limits in the Senate, but Pojman says one vote is telling in how it reveals Hutchison is technically pro-abortion.
Hutchison reaffirmed her pro-abortion position in March 2003 with a vote in favor of an amendment to the partial-birth abortion ban supporting the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that allowed virtually unlimited abortions.
"It is the sense of the Senate that the decision of the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade was appropriate and secures an important constitutional right; and such decision should not be overturned," the amendment read.
Pojman also noted that Perry strongly supported the proposed legislation to create a new specialty license plate for the state of Texas with the message "Choose Life." The license plate would promote adoption as a compassionate alternative to abortion by raising funds for pro-life organizations that work with pregnant women.
Perry has also strongly endorsed public funding for adult stem cell research, the pro-life group told LifeNews.com.
Unlike Hutchison, Perry has opposed embryonic stem cell research, which has developed no treatments or cures and requires the destruction of human embryos. Sen. Hutchison has twice voted to fund embryo-destructive research.
"We believe that Rick Perry is without question the best person for the job," Pojman concluded.
The TAL endorsement comes after a pro-life Republican group said Perry is the better of the two candidates on pro-life issues.
Colleen Parro, the head of the Republican National Coalition for Life, tells LifeNews.com that Perry has always been on the side of pro-life advocates.
"Governor Perry has been a supporter of pro-life legislation and has signed into law whatever pro-life bills were passed by the Texas legislature," Parro says.
The rub on Perry is that he has been the state’s governor for two full terms and the two final years of the term of President George W. Bush, who left Texas to become the president.
Interestingly, Hutchison won her Senate seat in 1993 and has spent the last 16 years in the position.
Related web sites:
Texas Alliance for Life – https://www.texasallianceforlife.org
Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.
